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The Judges are breaking the law & need to be held accountable. I really hope the Texas Homeschool Coalition can fight this until all of the wrong doers in the CPS, Courts & Police are held accountable for tormenting this family & braking the law!

This kind of thing is scary, but I tend to take it with a grain of salt. Due to privacy laws, the courts and government can not disclose everything they find or every reason for intervening, so I always feel there may be (and most likely are) extenuating circumstances. CPS is not so bored or over-funded that they go out of their way to find children to pluck from healthy, happy homes. The mother lost track of two of her children. They had to be found by a police officer. That right there, is a red flag to me, and I do think they should have gotten involved (to the extent they did? I can't say).

The judge found no abuse or neglect and agreed the children should not have been removed. She did order public schooling WHILE the children are evaluated by an educational expert. At that point the judge will decide what happens next. She is open to them home schooling in the future, she just wants to make sure it is being done in a bona fide manner as required by State Home Schooling laws. The 3 children not returned were the 2 pending adoption and the oldest, a child from a previous marriage who is with his father. One of the children pending adoption has had their biological parents step up to the plate and they are working to be a family again. We applaud them for that. The custody of other two will be revisited. THSC will have more on this as things develop. As we are currently in litigation more details cannot be released.

Which really burns me up! If there is no abuse, then why the heck do the kids need to be public schooled until they can be "evaluated by an educational expert"? Now that I have read this, I agree that this is a tactic in attacking homeschooling.

I read a few articles on this matter. Of course, per the usual, you only get the "victims" side of things in the news because the involved agency has their hands tied - they have to remain silent due to privacy concerns (especiallywith minors involved).

I grew up in the foster care system AND I work with a private agency that deals with issues involving children (it is both a foster care program and a lock up facility). I am not directly involved in the matters concerning the removing of children from their homes. However, I do know that there are protocals that have to be followed. There are problems in the system. However, the system is overwhelmed dealing with some of the worst issues within our society. I am not sure how good it can get.

From what I read... This COULD have been a simple matter. They had it all cleared that everything was all good. The mom failed to meet the safety measure requirements. This caused a court hearing where they removed the children. There is a lot of subtle wording there that implies that it was then that they realized that the kids were not on grade level - and it appears that the state seemed concerned whether proper education was going on. The one comment by (I think) the caseworker was unprofessional.

"Society has gotten to the point where everybody has a right but nobody has a responsibility."

I get that the agency had the right to remove the children (due to evaluations, precautions, and incorrect paperwork handed in) and I am glad to see the judge return the kids now.

However, I really don't understand how he ordered public school within the realm of Texas laws. Not just because Texas has no homeschool laws. Once cps got involved, that can change. However, in Texas, even CPS lacks the right to see education as a form of abuse to the child. I know judges can make arbitrary rulings, but this seems a bit out of step. I really think those kids were severely behind academically for this to happen. I am glad that even in Texas, the laws can step in and help protects the childrens right to an education. I HOPE that is what this was about.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

The new hearing was on January 9th I believe and this happened:

Quote:

The judge found no abuse or neglect and agreed the children should not have been removed. She did order public schooling WHILE the children are evaluated by an educational expert. At that point the judge will decide what happens next. She is open to them home schooling in the future, she just wants to make sure it is being done in a bona fide manner as required by State Home Schooling laws. The 3 children not returned were the 2 pending adoption and the oldest, a child from a previous marriage who is with his father. One of the children pending adoption has had their biological parents step up to the plate and they are working to be a family again. We applaud them for that. The custody of other two will be revisited. THSC will have more on this as things develop. As we are currently in litigation more details cannot be released.

Which really burns me up! If there is no abuse, then why the heck do the kids need to be public schooled until they can be "evaluated by an educational expert"? Now that I have read this, I agree that this is a tactic in attacking homeschooling.

"Society has gotten to the point where everybody has a right but nobody has a responsibility."

There has to be more to the story. A lot more. I'm usually anti-cps. But It's just not adding up. I'm wondering if the children were really behind. Especially since they were foster parents. These people were pre-approved and screened to care for children by the state. They usually don't just rip children out of a foster home unless it was bad.

I really think the ordering the children into school and the wanting state testing ect, may be because they had foster care children. Technically those children don't belong to anyone but the state while in foster care, you can't just do as you want. Even though the children's parental rights were eventually taken, a foster parent doesn't have the right to install their personal beliefs or agenda on someone else's child. (it doesn't state if the bio-parents still had rights while placed in care at their home.) The goal with foster care is usually bio-family reunification. I'm sure you have to be approved to homeschool foster children, just like you have to approve/ let them know about everything including doctors visits and sending them to public school.

I completely agree. I think if police found my autistic son wandering many blocks from home I'd be opening the door to such invasion as well. Plus these were foster kids found wandering.... I honestly didn't realize you could homeschool foster kids in the first place. And I agree, there has to be more to the story. I know even in my state - which has even more relaxed laws than Tx, CPS struggled to get involved with a family who homeschooled for religious reasons and this family even had several inscribed batons that read "spare the rod spoil the child" - CPS hemmed and hawed about getting involved so long that they missed the opportunity. The mother ended up stabbing the eldest daughter and then setting her on fire, she then burned down the house with the rest of the family inside. Miraculously the eldest daughter survived. CPS was raked ovr the coals for not doing more to save these kids......some people are never happy. If CPS gets involved they are called communists, if they on't they are called lazy.

Quoting hipmomto3:

This kind of thing is scary, but I tend to take it with a grain of salt. Due to privacy laws, the courts and government can not disclose everything they find or every reason for intervening, so I always feel there may be (and most likely are) extenuating circumstances. CPS is not so bored or over-funded that they go out of their way to find children to pluck from healthy, happy homes. The mother lost track of two of her children. They had to be found by a police officer. That right there, is a red flag to me, and I do think they should have gotten involved (to the extent they did? I can't say).

I believe the judge ordered the PS because he didn't want the kids to go completely uneducated through this long drawn-out process.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

The new hearing was on January 9th I believe and this happened:

Quote:

The judge found no abuse or neglect and agreed the children should not have been removed. She did order public schooling WHILE the children are evaluated by an educational expert. At that point the judge will decide what happens next. She is open to them home schooling in the future, she just wants to make sure it is being done in a bona fide manner as required by State Home Schooling laws. The 3 children not returned were the 2 pending adoption and the oldest, a child from a previous marriage who is with his father. One of the children pending adoption has had their biological parents step up to the plate and they are working to be a family again. We applaud them for that. The custody of other two will be revisited. THSC will have more on this as things develop. As we are currently in litigation more details cannot be released.

Which really burns me up! If there is no abuse, then why the heck do the kids need to be public schooled until they can be "evaluated by an educational expert"? Now that I have read this, I agree that this is a tactic in attacking homeschooling.

Reading between the lines, it does seem likely that the children were far behind where they should be, academically. While I don't think the government should be able to dictate what homeschooling families teach or how they do it, I do think they have the responsibility to make sure *something* is being taught, and in cases where nothing is taught (we have all heard of that), it's a form of neglect.

In Indiana, you can not homeschool a foster child. They must remain in public school.

If two of my children wandered away and had to be retrieved by police officers, I'd fully expect to fall under severe scrutiny. I've heard of many instances of children wandering away from home and CPS does NOT take the children - accidents happen, kids can be mischievous, etc. They still investigate but it's pretty apparent in those cases, who just had a rambunctious toddler who snuck out a door while mom's back was turned, or children who are not being watched AT ALL.

They were most probably targeted because, in most states, it is illegal to homeschool foster children. In some states it is even illegal to homeschool children who have been adopted from the state. This is what happens when the government gets way too involved with education. Then again, the investigations are there for a reason. There have been way too many instances of abuse/neglect to children who are said to be homeschooled.

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